The present invention relates to a container for magnetic tape cassettes and, more particularly, to a container for magnetic tape cassettes having several receiving compartments separated from each other by base panels for longitudinal insertion of magnetic tape cassettes.
For longitudinal insertion of the magnetic tape cassette, DE-OS 40 39 954 describes a container for magnetic tape cassettes having locking devices, each of which is constituted by two rocker arms arranged side-by-side and pivotable independently of one another. In this container, a projection on the base plate is associated with each rocker arm for joint disengagement thereof, while for the locking action there is only one member available for both pairs of rocker arms of a locking device. This member is arranged on a sliding element which is mounted in the base plate and is displaceable with the magnetic tape cassette transversely to the direction of insertion. This special structure for longitudinal insertion of a magnetic tape cassette enables the tape to be locked regardless of orientation in which the cassette is placed on the slider member. The reel hubs of the cassettes are in fact arranged displaced from the middle in the longitudinal direction of the cassette, so that only the rocker arm displaced in the same direction is engaged. Because the member arranged on the sliding element in each case pushes upright only one rocker arm for engagement, the other rocker arm remains in the disengaged position. The respective matching rocker arm is thereby brought into engagement since the sliding element is displaced with the member arranged on it by the magnetic tape cassette. The displacement of the sliding element is effected by the elevation arranged on the cassettes, which comes into contact with an inclined wedge-like control member of the sliding element projecting beyond the top side of the base plate.
Apart from cassettes with open reel hubs, magnetic tape cassettes in which the reel hubs are closed by a plate are now also known. The closed plate at the same time also assumes the function of locking the tape, so that such cassettes no longer require the tape to be locked in the storage container. The closure of the reel hub means that containers that have fixed locking devices or locking devices which are set upright automatically for the reel hubs can no longer be used for storing such cassettes.